Dame Meg Hillier and the rest of the Treasury Committee were shocked to be made aware of a phishing attack that impacted up to 100,000 taxpayers and stole at least £47m, only finding out about the incident midway through the committee hearing on 4 June.

In a tetchy hearing with HMRC officials, Hillier’s closed the committee hearing, criticising the lack of transparency from the tax authority.

Hiller said: ‘Clarity of communication is important, and I would just stress again your accountability, Mr Marks and HMRC’s, to parliament and through us to taxpayers is not an optional extra. It is something which should be absolutely fundamental.’

On 10 June a follow up letter was sent directly to HMRC’s newly appointed CEO, John Paul-Marks (JP), expressing disappointment from the Treasury Committee after it found out about the phishing attack through a press report, and not directly from HMRC.